Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Following on the popularity of previous posts, another Cowboy Copas LP. "Cowboy Copas Sings His All-Time Hits" (King 553, 1958) was the first Copas long play released. A few of the songs here are also included on previously posted LPs, but followers of the Scratchy Attic may appreciate having a transfer of this complete album as such.

Liner notes are as follows:

One of the major reasons back of the popularity of tall, deep-voiced Lloyd (Cowboy) Copas is the all-time broadcasting record he holds. During the past fifteen years he has appeared on more than two hundred radio stations in the United States, Canada and Mexico in addition to his present shows on the Grand Ole Opry.
“Cowboy” Copas, as he’s known, was so named by a radio announcer who, when he first saw him said “you look like a real cowboy” and the pseudonym has stuck by Copas ever since. That same announcer was also one of the first people with whom Copas worked professionally and encouraged the hillbilly waltz king in all his endeavors.
As far back as Copas can remember he’s loved music and the entertainment field generally. His burning ambition for show business and an overpowering desire to be a part of it got him into a couple of road shows when he was still a kid, and this to him was an experience which to this day he recalls as one of most thrilling things that has ever happened to him. He recalls too, that the encouragement given him by members of his family was a great help in getting him started as a Country and Western entertainer. His folks were all music- minded. Every member of his family played an instrument or sang and loved everything that was a part of music. “The advice from my family was sincere and constructive. I guess that’s why the feeling for an entertainer’s career was so strong in me” Copas recalls.
Although Copas is now recognized as one of the top entertainers in the folk music field, he first appeared on the stage because of a dare. In former days Copas sang very little; he depended on his tricky guitar playing to entertain his friends. One day he met an Indian boy named Natchee. Since Copas himself is about one-quarter Indian, the two became fast friends. It was Natchee who dared Copas to enter an amateur contest with him in Cincinnati. Though he didn’t believe he had a chance of winning, the Cowboy agreed to play the guitar while Natchee played the fiddle. To the surprise of both, they took first prize in the competition. This led to one night stands throughout the country at fairs, nightclubs or anything that came along. While on the road they began conducting fiddling contests of their own.
Copas first gained national recognition for the many waltzes he introduced and for the way in which he did them — just a little bit different, a little “dreamier” than anybody else — and people began referring to him as the Hillybilly Waltz King.
Cowboy Copas was one of the first artists to sign with the King Record Company and a lot of water has passed under the bridge since that time, and many, many record hits. The first record that he recorded “Fillipino Baby” is represented here and it is only fitting that it should appear in this, his first long playing album. Many of the waltzes that Copas made famous are also here for your continued entertainment. A truly enjoyable album designed not only for the thousands of Cowboy Copas fans but for all lovers of Country and Western music. Here is Cowboy Copas singing his All-time hits.

Saturday, March 14, 2015

Presented today are a couple of interesting early '60s LPs on the Guest Star label, a budget imprint of the Synthetic Plastics Company of Newark, New Jersey. Both albums contain material leased from Don Pierce's Starday label, including some fairly rare titles.
Most interesting from a collector's standpoint is Guest Star G 1492, "Stars & Guests Of The Louisiana Hayride". Although these LPs feature only generic back slicks without any information about the specific album, it is clear Pierce dug deep into his catalog to compile a collection by artists who, as the title suggests, were at one point either cast members or guests of KWKH Shreveport's legendary Louisiana Hayride. There are some real gems contained on this album, the discographal data of which follows:

Another great collection, although containing somewhat more typical Starday LP fare, is GS 1415 "All-Time Great Country & Western Songs Starring Benny Martin". I guess this is where the "guest star" angle comes in, as this is not a Benny Martin LP, but a various artists compilation "starring" (?) Benny. It gets a little odder yet; the track contained by Martin is not "Tennessee Rag" as listed but "Big Tiger Special" (both tunes were contained on Martin's 1961 Starday LP "Country Music's Sensational Entertainer"), a recording that clocks at about a minute and a half, but here is doubled in length by simply fading the beginning of the recording back in over the ending strains. Starday was famous for leasing chopped up versions of songs for budget compilations to make them shorter and thus fit more titles on an LP, but this is the only example I've come across to date where they did exactly the opposite! As the results made for particularly ridiculous listening, I did some editing of my own and restored the track to it's proper length. Discographal data is below:

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Fifty-two years ago today, on March 5, 1963, occurred one of the most tragic and oft commemorated events in the history of country music. The Piper Comanche carrying Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas, and Hawkshaw Hawkins, and piloted by Cline's manager and Copas' son-in-law Randy Hughes, crashed near Camden, Tennessee, killing all on board. The details of this unfortunate occurrence have been told so many times that there is really no need to retell them again here.
Although most accounts of the tragedy primarily focus on Cline, (understandable as she is now a major musical legend of the 20th century), it should be remembered that Copas and Hawkins were both established country music veterans at the time of their demise. The two singers careers had many parallels; both made their initial impact on Syd Nathan's upstart King label in the immediate postwar years, both worked consistently throughout the fifties and were well known personalities on radio and records but never achieved the breakout star status of contemporaries such as Hank Williams, Hank Snow, Eddy Arnold, etc., and both had late career revivals, Copas with his hit talking blues "Alabam" in 1960 and Hawkins with "Lonesome 7-7203", released a scant three days before his death and a posthumous hit, his only record to reach #1 on Billboard's country chart.
Presented here are the two LPs released by King in 1963 as memorials to the label's fallen stars. With the exception of two Hawkins tracks from his last session in 1962 ("Lonesome 7-7203" and "Love Died Tonight") the albums are comprised of tracks originally released as singles from the late 1940's into the 1950's. Both collections have fairly extensive notes for the time, with King 835 featuring a gatefold cover including several photos. Scans of the jackets and labels of each LP are included in the uploaded folders. The following uncredited tribute is printed on the back of King 835:

THIS ALBUM IS A LIVING TRIBUTE TO THE MEMORY...TO THE FRIENDSHIPS...TO THE TALENTS OF HAROLD "HAWKSHAW" HAWKINS AND LLOYD "COWBOY COPAS AND TO THE LEGENDS THAT THEY LEAVE BEHIND.
THE TRAGIC ILL-FATED ACCIDENT AT CAMDEN, TENNESSEE ON MARCH 5, 1963 IS WELL KNOWN TO COUNTRY MUSIC FANS ALL OVER THE WORLD AND NEED NOT BE RETOLD HERE...BUT RATHER THE PRODUCERS HAVE TOLD THE STORY OF THE TWO STARS BY PRESENTING, IN SONG, THE HISTORY OF THEIR CAREERS, STARTING WITH THEIE VERY FIRST RECORDING AND PROGRESSING ON TO THEIR LATEST...THESE ARE THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS AND THEIR BIGGEST HITS AND BY THESE THEY WILL ALWAYS BE REMEMBERED.
BOTH STARS WERE DISCOVERED AND STARTED ON THEIR WAY TO FAME BY MR. SYDNEY NATHAN, OWNER AND FOUNDER OF KING RECORDS, AND RECORDED THEIR FIRST RECORDS IN THE KING STUDIOS IN CINCINNATI, OHIO SOME TWENTY YEARS AGO.
"HAWKSHAW" HAWKINS AND "COWBOY" COPAS HAVE JOINED JIMMY OSBORN, HANK WILLIAMS, JOHNNY HORTON, PATSY CLINE, JACK ANGELIN AND JIMMIE RODGERS IN COUNTRY MUSIC'S "HILLBILLY HEAVEN" AND IT IS TO THEIR MEMORY THAT WE DEDICATE THIS ALBUM.